Lately, there has been a great deal of discussion about language and the use and value of words.
Yesterday, in the grocery, I ran into an old friend I haven't seen for years, and we chatted away. Her daughter who was in my son Chris's class, now teaches at Tam Valley, in the same classroom where her dad taught and where my sons attended fourth grade.
She mentioned checking out lodging in the area when her daughter got married, and it seems there is a bed and breakfast on my very street. It is low-key, and though I had heard rumors, I hadn't checked it out, and so today I do. I see that the location is described, as, among other inaccuracies, as "beachside." I always thought "beachside," meant by the side of a beach, near sand and within viewing, and certainly easy walking distance of the beach. Now, we tease that with enough global warming we will have ocean-front property, but I am hoping that is a scenario that will not occur, and, if it does, that B & B will be sunk, as it is lower in elevation than we.
I was thinking that anyone who made reservations for this romantic cottage by the beach would be very disappointed when they pulled up, but then, I realized that anyone who thinks any place can be all this, maybe deserves the shock.
"Location is best described as Beachside; Downtown; Mountain; Small town; Suburban, and Wine Country."
I assume there was a checklist and yes, there is a beach, a ten minute drive away with no traffic, and SF is a ten minute drive with no traffic, and there is a mountain, and a small town, and, yes, it is suburban, and yes, we drink wine here so I guess it is wine country, though most people consider wine country where they grow grapes and that is further north or south.
But then I've never looked in the back of this house where the little cottage nests. Perhaps they have some grape vines struggling to rise in the wind and the fog. My son likes wine made from stressed grapes. Maybe, Tam Valley will be the next Mount Veeder. I love where I live, and I might be pleased to see it so luxuriously described, and I look out and see hills and sky, but no beach, and I am perfectly pleased with that. An area like this needs no exaggeration. It is more than enough.